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Trade unions are an important partner in many of our plants around
the globe . When management and trade unions have a good working relationship
everyone benefits. On occasion that relationship can become adversarial and in
many instances plant safety declines. Here is a recent story when a trade union
is at odds with plant management regarding safety. The APSB has chosen not to
name the plant nor location.
Union members who work at the aluminium smelter are
concerned by the number of employees being injured at the plant, their
organiser says.
About 40 smelter union members attended a two-hour
stopwork meeting one day during the week of October 5, 2014 yesterday as part
of a "global day of action against smelter owners ".
The union's organizer for the aluminium smelters workers,
said about 40 people attended the meeting and he was extremely surprised at the
workers collective concern over the number of injuries happening at the
smelter.
He believed up to six workers were medically retired from
the smelter each year because of injuries suffered on the job. They were mainly
arm and shoulder injuries, he said.
The union said he tried to set up a meeting between the
smelter general manager, federal worker safety agency and health and safety
representatives last year to discuss the issue, but nothing came of it.
"As far as I am concerned there are job tasks down
there that should be identified as significant hazards, and no-one wants to
know about it. Now it's developed to the situation where workers are being medically
retired."
In the potline and rodding room departments - where the
work was hard and physical - was where most injuries happened, he said. Staff
redundancies had aggravated the issue because workers were not being rotated
between job tasks as often as previously.
The smelter's union member workers wanted the smelter and smelter’s
owner to start working constructively with the union to improve conditions.
The smelter general manager said they took the health and
safe of their employees very seriously and they worked continuously to
eliminate hazards in the workplace.
The smelter was seen as setting a benchmark for industrial
safety in the country, the general manager said. The smelter had spent
millions of dollars over the past 20 years to eliminate health and safety
risks, engaging the best experts in the field to consult and advise, the
smelter general manager said.
The Aluminium Plant Safety Blog prays that both parties work
together to continue to improve safety at this smelter. Though the APSB chose
to omit the name and location of the smelter, we are aware of the good work
that this smelter has done in the past regarding promoting worker safety. We
are also confident that this particular smelter will continue to promote safety
in the future.
The number of workers retiring because of injury at this
smelter is a common topic that our industry is facing. Many of these workers
are older or seasoned workers. It is not uncommon for the APSB to meet a worker
who has 25-30 years of service in an aluminium plant. The toll one’s body takes
when working a job that in many instances are physically demanding is great.
The safety and training of the older or seasoned workers is a challenge that
never ends. It takes a unique approach and understanding of the workers
themselves and the workplace to find a collective balance where production and
safety can succeed.
If in the near future if the smelter management and trade union
are still not seeing eye to eye, maybe mediation could be explored.
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